TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:45 am

Hello everyone. I have been an avid lurker for years and now decided to post some of my own work too. This little beauty came into my possession few years ago when my uncle finally decided to clean up his barn. I wasn't into VWs back then but decided to save it and take it home(for free). What a great choice it was!

Barn fresh hotness.

The body and pan were quite rotten in some parts but as a whole it was a pretty solid start. Do note the safe looking contraptions used before I built a little crane to do the heavy lifting. Front and rear aprons needed some work, heater channels were complete scrap with some other parts. Luckily there were no other major/hard parts to repair.

After a considerable amount of work it was finally time to drop the body back to where it belongs. I was really happy about the paintwork. Couldn't have hoped for a better original color.

The headliner was a bit PITA to do but everything went better than expected. There are some small, hard to notice parts where the paint isn't so good.

The engine had been changed a short while before the car had been parked in the barn for over 30 years so it needed very little work internally. Some of the stuff isn't correct for a Oct 55 oval but I went with what I had.

I decided to go for something non-stock with wheels and painted them black-white.

After some 3 long years of work it was finally "finished". Yes, before anyone comments on the tail lights, they are too high even for a 56. Realised all that well after everything was painted etc. This car has had some things done wrong as this was my first aircooled but generally I am very pleased with the result. Atm the stance is something akin to a 4x4 but I have some plans to drop it down a notch to get the tires flush with the fenders. Not going to slam it all the way down though.

Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:49 am

Beautiful car! Nice work sir. I hope you get the pleasure of driving this often.

Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:09 am

Awesome!

I saw your photos earlier today and added links to them from the Paint page on the site for Jungle Green.

Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:12 am

Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:18 am

Great transformation!!

Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:33 am

Bravo! Beautiful car.

Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:50 am

Thanks for the comments everyone. As I said, this was my first aircooled but definitely won't be the last. Already have another bug and a late-bay coming up. These money hungry cars... :)

EverettB wrote:
I saw your photos earlier today and added links to them from the Paint page on the site for Jungle Green.

Nice. I've gained lots of information through this site and hopefully someone else will learn something out of this little project of mine.

Here is a short video of the engine running for those that are interested. Purrs like champ.

Sat Dec 17, 2011 7:37 pm

beautiful car, nice job with it!

Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:10 pm

Very nice car. Love the color. Great work. 8)

Sat Dec 17, 2011 8:45 pm

Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:21 am

What to do when your bug is in storage for the winter? Post more pictures.

The front license plate was secured with zip ties because I didn't want to drill more holes to the re-chromed original bumpers. I have already made a simple bracket out of stainless steel. No more bad and ugly things. :)

Another little project; I'm 'restoring' the windshield washer assembly atm. This pump had a clear red plastic cover. Replaced the ugly black knob with a ivory one I grabbed out of the rotten gas heater that was originally installed on this car. Anyone seen these? Accesory kit by whom? Shouldn't be too hard to get it working again. The plastic washer liquid bottle is clearly pressurized by the spare wheel.

This fattie 'beauty' will be my next real project. Will start a build thread on it when the time comes. Ugly wide fenders.

Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:27 am

Welt wrote: What to do when your bug is in storage for the winter? Post more pictures.

Ugly wide fenders.

Storage for the winter? Drive it :D
and for the wide fenders too bad its a newer body and you in finland, we coulda worked something out for me to take them off your hands 8)

Beautiful Oval though, looks great

Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:51 am

itizmyne4 wrote:
Storage for the winter? Drive it :D

We clearly have different views of winter. :lol: This happened last friday:

I neatly avoided all that in my daily driver, but had I driven my oval that day I would quite possibly be impaled by the steering column in some random ditch. Well, if i had some good studded tires on some aftermarket rims instead of the 5.60 bias plys...

This is the license plate bracket I've been working on. Cut them out of a plate of stainless with a hand held plasma cutter. The other one is basically the same with the bends going the other way. Need to enlarge the holes a little more. Simple and functional.

Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:56 am

Welt wrote: itizmyne4 wrote:
Storage for the winter? Drive it :D

We clearly have different views of winter. :lol:

LOL..... :lol: :lol: :lol: Nice bug by the way

Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:19 pm

Finally the weather was nice enough to pull the bug out of the garage. Started like a charm and purrs like a kitten. After a bit of wash&wax I went ahead and installed the brackets. Fits nice and IMO looks good too. Obviously they won't work with a slammed car, but this one is not going to be a panscraper anyhow.

Mon May 13, 2013 8:16 am

Not much has been happening with this oval. Small enhancements here and there. Still going strong as ever. Added some trim rings for the wheels, fits nice IMO with the white on white look.

It seems that vintage speed/36hp performance has become a real interest of many so I decided to have a go myself. I chose the easiest route, dual 28 PCI with everything else stock for the time being. Just cast the first batch of manifolds. Here's some photos:

Core box and cast models:

Mould internals:

Cast and opened mould:

Cleaned, unmachined manifolds:

For those interested, here's some more photos/simulation videos:
Click

Mon May 13, 2013 10:16 am

Damn your car is nice!! same with those manifolds!!! That's badass!! are you going to start making them and selling them? :o i would totally be Interested in some!!

Mon May 13, 2013 12:53 pm

Thanks, Jungle Green sure is one of the prettiest colors for an oval. I'm not going to make a long run of these manifolds, but I'll probably make atleast 2-5 sets more in the next few weeks. Those I'll consider selling if the whole design even works. If there seems to be a real demand, some more will be made later.

I came up with the dual carb idea because one 28 PCI I bought to replace a broken one didn't have any vacuum fittings. Couldn't use it with a vacuum distributor in a single carb setup. It was in almost perfect condition, so something had to be done to get it to use.

Sourced a bunch of old carbs and air cleaners:

The flawless one:

I've already tried soda blasting the carbs. Seems to work great. Citric acid for the rust, soda for the grime and vinegar for the brass parts. Looking good:

The 010 will be used for this build.

Mon May 20, 2013 7:27 am

First two manifold sets machined. Still need to remove some of the casting flash but they are looking quite good already. I could glass bead blast them, but I like the rough cast finish a little bit more. Next step will be to mock these up on some engine and figure out the linkages and all that.

Mon May 20, 2013 10:10 am

those are sweet! cant wait to see what they look like mounted! 8)